Attempted Suicide

By Jerry Greene and Brian Campbell of The Sentinel Staff, July 10, 1991

An apparent early-morning suicide attempt by Orlando Predators football player Tony Collins has shocked supporters, with some refusing to believe he would try to take his life despite a troubled past.Collins, 32, was rescued from his car Tuesday morning after driving it into Lake Ivanhoe near downtown Orlando, police said. The police officer on the scene, Patrick Schneider of the Orlando Police Department, treated the incident as an attempted suicide and invoked the Baker Act.Under provisions of the Baker Act, a state mental health statute that allows someone to be held for examination if officials believe he could be a danger to himself or others, Collins was transferred to the Crisis Stabilization Unit from Florida Hospital Orlando after being found free of physical injury.

Osceola County authorities on Sunday identified the man who killed himself Saturday after shooting and critically injuring a woman. The shooter was identified as Sylvester Howard Jr., 43. He shot himself at about 8 a.m. Saturday in the front yard of a home on Lehigh Avenue in Kissimmee. The woman, whose name has not been released, was in critical but stable condition Sunday at Orlando Regional Medical Center, according to Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain. The couple's four children have been placed in the care of the Department of Children and Families.

Resigned Roman Catholic Archbishop of Atlanta Eugene Marino, who stepped down last month after an affair with a female lay minister, tried to kill himself at the New York monastery where he has been in seclusion since the scandal, a local television station said Wednesday night. The station, WAGA-TV, quoted three unnamed sources as saying that the 56-year-old Marino attempted suicide last week. WAGA-TV reported that he was moved to St. Vincent Psychiatric Hospital in Westchester, N.Y., last Thursday from the Trinity Retreat monastery in Larchmont, N.Y., as a ''precautionary measure.

The 911 call of a Kissimmee woman who survived being shot in an attempted murder-suicide was released Wednesday, a day after the shooting. "I have been shot two times…I'm bleeding badly," Martha Smith told a 911 operator. "I'm shot in the face and the hand. " At about 5 p.m. Tuesday, Smith called police saying William Marble, 84, had shot her at a home on Poinsettia Lane near the city's lakefront. And she said Marble then shot himself, according to police "He's not living," she said.

The man accused in the slayings of five Gainesville college students is on suicide watch after trying to strangle himself.Danny Rolling, 37, wrapped a bedsheet around his neck like a tourniquet and used a book as a lever to twist it tight, said Paula Bryant, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections.Before Rolling could hurt himself seriously, an inmate in a nearby cell alerted officers.The June 1 incident occurred at 11:30 a.m. at Florida State Prison in Starke as inmates were about to be fed.

KARACHI, Pakistan - Asif Ali Zardari, the jailed husband of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was hospitalized in Karachi on Tuesday. Police said he tried to commit suicide, but Zardari's supporters said he was tortured in police custody. Critics of Pakistan's government accused the police of fabricating the attempted suicide to cover up the torture.

Nearly one-third of homosexual or bisexual teen-age boys have tried to kill themselves, driven to despair by isolation and fear, a new study says. Researchers at the University of Minnesota and the University of Washington said 41 of 137 gay or bisexual males interviewed, about 30 percent, said they had attempted suicide. About 20 reported multiple attempts.

FORMER HEAVYWEIGHT champion Muhammad Ali said Mike Tyson must correct his ''few little faults and habits'' if he wants to be known for his prowess in the boxing ring instead of his exploits out of it. Tyson has made headlines with his controversial marriage to actress Robin Givens, a multimillion dollar lawsuit against his manager, a street fight with a former opponent and most recently, a car crash that one newspaper reported was an attempted suicide....

RESTRAINED. A county judge has issued a restraining order preventing former Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks player Glen Gondrezick from having any contact with his wife or their two children. Gondrezick, 33, continued to recover at Boulder, Colo., Community Hospital from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the chest. He apparently attempted suicide Wednesday night after an altercation with his wife, authorities said. Sheriff's officials said Gondrezick, who last played professional basketball in Europe in 1985, could be charged with misdemeanor assault upon his release from the hospital.

WASHINGTON -- Three million U.S. teens have thought seriously about or even attempted suicide, a government survey released today showed. More than 13 percent of Americans between 14 and 17 years of age considered suicide in 2000, the report from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found. Only 36 percent had received mental-health treatment or counseling. More than a third of the 3 million teens ages 12 to 17 who said they thought about suicide in the past year tried it, the survey found.

Luis Toledo, the "person of interest" in the disappearances of his wife and her two children, tried to kill himself Saturday by cutting himself with pieces of a bathroom mirror after talking to investigators in Daytona Beach. His injuries were not life-threatening. Toledo, 31, was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach for treatment for his cuts at about 11:30 a.m. Luis Toledo was at the Volusia County Sheriff's Office's Operations Center at 1330 Indian Lake Road on Saturday to talk to investigators when he was allowed to use a bathroom as a deputy guarded him. "Toledo forced the doorway shut, smashed the mirror and used the mirror shards to attempt suicide by cutting himself," Brandon Haught, a spokesman for the Volusia County Sheriff's Office, said in an email.

Orange County Sheriff's homicide detectives have identified two men - one found dead and the other seriously injured - inside an east Orange County home this weekend. Santiago Velez-Prieto, 35, was found dead about 3:48 p.m. inside a home in the 1500 block of Rivers Edge Drive on Saturday after a coworker came to check on him. Deputies discovered Gregory Groves, 44, in the back suffering from some kind of life-threatening wound and he was hospitalized, said Capt. Angelo Nieves, a Sheriff's Office spokesman.

A suspect in a home invasion that terrorized a Winter Garden family has attempted suicide in the Orange County Jail, officials said Monday. Oscar Diaz-Hernandez, 21, who was awaiting trial, has been at Orlando Regional Medical Center since he attempted to hang himself June 15 in an isolation cell, jail spokesman Allen Moore said. WFTV.com reports that Diaz-Hernandez's mother is deciding whether to take him off life support. A judge has released him from the jail's custody — a rarity in serious cases.

Apopka police are investigating a shooting at Shoot Straight on South Orange Blossom Trail this afternoon. A man in his 30s was on the shooting line inside the business when he turned the gun on himself, police spokesman Officer Steve Popp said. The man, whose name was not released, was rushed to Orlando Regional Medical Center for treatment. His condition was grave, Popp said. Check back for more information. bprieto@tribune.com

A woman who was injured in an attempted murder-suicide last week has died. Pamela Carr, 53, died Saturday after spending several days at a local hospital. Her husband, James D. Carr, 60, died Thursday, two days after the shooting. A roommate called for help around 8:30 p.m. July 19 after hearing gunshots from the couple's bedroom. The two had spent the day drinking were arguing shortly before the shooting, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office. When deputies arrived at the Carr's rented home in the 5500 block of Gaymar Drive they found the couple suffering from life threatening injuries inside their bedroom.

The suspected shooter in an attempted murder-suicide earlier this week has died. James D. Carr, 60, is accused of shooting his wife Pamela T. Carr during an argument at their home Tuesday evening. He died Thursday night at the hospital, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office. Deputies were called the Carr's rented home in the 5500 block of Gaymar Drive around 8:30 p.m. after their roommate called 911 to report the shooting. The caller said the couple had been drinking all day and were arguing.

LADY LAKE - An 18-year-old man found critically wounded at The Villages may have shot himself in the head, police said Sunday.Lady Lake investigators said evidence collected after Friday night's shooting at the Hardee's restaurant off U.S. Highway 27-441 in the massive retirement community points to a possible attempted suicide.The victim - whose name is being withheld by The Lake Sentinel - remained in critical condition Sunday at Orlando Regional Medical Center.``It is being investigated as an attempted suicide because of certain circumstances we've looked at,'' said Joe Fazio, spokesman for the Lady Lake Police Department.

PORT ST. JOE -- A jury has acquitted Marcus Vann on burglary and robbery charges after he spent more than two years behind bars awaiting trial. The trial was delayed because of several changes in defense lawyers and a suicide attempt by a co-defendant who had been expected to testify against Vann, 39. Vann, 39, had been accused of being one of three masked men who robbed a Wewahitchka family at gunpoint on Jan. 30, 2000. Alex Caster confessed and named Vann and Solomon Fisher, both of Panama City, as accomplices.

Christopher Jodon, who is accused of stabbing to death his ex-girlfriend after running her off Interstate 4, was found hanging from a bed sheet in his cell at the Volusia County Jail, wesh.com is reporting. Jodon was taken to a hospital where he is in critical condition, the report said. Click here to read the entire story at wesh.com.

A woman from The Villages who is charged with the attempted murder of her husband tried to kill herself by jumping from a second-story handrail inside the Sumter County Jail, according to jail officials and documents of the incident. Denise Textor, who had been held at the Bushnell detention center since shooting her spouse in their home in November, was airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center on Friday after her suicide attempt, said Michael Graves, her criminal defense attorney.